No Smoking * 禁止吸烟。

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This may not seem like a big deal to most Americans, but a highly charged and controversial ban on smoking in restaurants, hospitals, universities and other public places has ignited controversy throughout China, home to a third of the world's smokers.

Smokers in China's capital city will not be allowed to light up in all indoor public places, at work or on public transit under new legislation passed by the Standing Committee of Beijing Municipal People's Congress.

Trinity Thanksgiving

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Trinity United Methodist Church on City Island once again hosted its annual Thanksgiving Service, followed by a traditional Thanksgiving Feast for all the huddled masses, which included an eclectic mix of individuals, who gathered to give thanks and to celebrate.

Thanks for that update, or downdate?

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It was the day after Thanksgiving, when my older brother took me out for lunch and proceeded to tell me insidious tales from the darker side, dim discussions, death secrets, devious deceptions.

Basically, in a nutshell nothing appeared exactly as it seemed in years past. He began discussing rumors and innuendos about family members who are no longer around, and therefore not capable of confirming, or denying some of the strange assertions.

COLD Weather Pattern

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Arctic air will cause temperatures to drop across the northern Plains, which will bring snow to the Inter-mountain West.

An arctic front is forecast to plunge through the northern Plains and northern Rockies on Saturday bringing a drastic drop in temperatures across these areas with a burst of snow over much of the Inter-mountain Region. Arctic air will also filter into the Pacific Northwest bringing with it snow showers and subfreezing low temperatures.

Black and Blue Friday

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Business owners are now singing the blues for Black Friday, saying the hype is gone as crazed customers were stocking up on deals last night and sleeping in today while hitting the snooze button. The stores appear to have taken a beating.

Instead of the typical Black Friday madness, all was calm at holiday gift hot spots across the city, including Macy’s and Target, as deal-driven shoppers struggled to get out of bed this morning.

Goodbye, Adios and Zaijian Facebook

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While traveling recently throughout China and not having any access to Facebook, I began to realize the lack of benefit and importance that this free online service has to my daily life.

I think that it really is not only a waste of my time, but it is also not necessary to my well being and it is certainly not earning me any money for all the time I have already devoted to the site by loading content. On the contrary, this service is making money off me and hundreds of millions of other users worldwide. There are over 1 billion on Facebook. How can this company make money? Its easy to use a free service if I'm not paying for it. But the fact is the service is produced by me.

The reality here isn’t me receiving enjoyment in the form of a free temporary distraction created by a media company at great expense. This media company happens to be selling our eyeballs to their advertisers. Our accounts are contributing $$$ to Facebook each year.

We’re being sold and we never even knew we were up for grabs. Do you understand why Facebook’s stock value has doubled since its public offering, which some said was unjustifiably high. Advertising isn’t just a way for Facebook to earn a little bit of revenue in between hosting family photos and personal musings. It’s the very purpose of its existence.

BBC News - Social media told to simplify terms and conditions http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30234789

How many followers, tags, or likes do you need before you wake up? How many Facebook friends do you have? How many of them do you personally communicate with because you are interested in each other? How many of these do you think would visit your personal website to look at your photos, or read your original content?

If you are truly interested in earning money online, then start by choosing a domain, followed by launching your own website. Once this task is completed, start producing original content and posting it, so you too can also generate revenue from multiple advertisers. Please would you kindly try some of mine?

Reasons for Giving Thanks!

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Our family members and most of all our parents and grandparents for giving us life, for taking the time to teach us to love and for being our closest kin in the whole world...

Our friends for being the greatest companions in life and our Lord for it all...

Our health, our sight for letting us see the colors. Hearing for listening to the voices and sounds of music. Touch for letting us feel the breeze of the wind and our loved ones.

Time To Stand Up

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There are approximately 18K police departments with over half million armed cops in the US. How many police shootings are there each year? How may unarmed citizens have been killed? There is no data available.

As police shootings of unarmed citizens continue, criminal justice experts note that, while national research groups keep statistics on unprovoked shark attacks 53 in 2013, to the number of pigs living in the U.S. which is more than of 64K, there is no reliable data on how many people are shot by police officers every year.

Why Do People Riot? http://dlvr.it/7dwk5b

Hazardous Travel Advisory

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This winter storm is shaping up to be a travel nightmare for Thanksgiving. A coating to several inches of snow could accumulate along the I-95 corridor on Wednesday. While temperatures have been unseasonably warm early this week, snow is still likely to accumulate along coastal interstates, especially during periods of heavy snowfall.

STOP Violence

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Current efforts to prevent violence especially against women and girls are inadequate. Estimates suggest that globally, 1 in 3 women has experienced either physical or sexual violence from their partner, and that 7% of women will experience sexual assault by a non-partner at some point in their lives.

NO MORE PSA CAMPAIGN "EXCUSES" :30: http://youtu.be/YTp-k5G_okY?list=PLRH4qMDKG2FHUm_VEtUkK2pXWdtJuzoeN … via @YouTube